Day 40 – 42 : Motueka – “We call them shags. They pretty much shit all over the place.”By Lee

Broken up by an obligatory Burger King stop-over in Nelson, we arrive in Motueka relatively refreshed.

Only a couple of hours south of Picton, Motueka resembles Rotorua in terms of size and function, acting as a gateway to numerous attractions in the region.

The biggest of these is Abel Tasman, one of New Zealand’s smaller national parks which, despite its diminutive size compared to some of the country’s other parklands, is big on spectacle and adventure.

Tags: Abel Tasman, Motueka

Day 37 – 39 : Picton – “Show me your dolphins.”By Lee

Taking three hours to sail from the bottom of the north island to the top of the south, I manage to work out the distance between New Zealand’s two islands by comparing the voyage with a trip I’m familiar with. Similar in journey time to a cruise between Ireland and the UK, I deduct the mileage and I experience the fact that, though many maps show the two islands as one contiguous mass, New Zealand is very much a tale of two halves.

Tags: Picton, Trip

Day 35 – 36 : Wellington – “We have a bathroom. And it’s talking to me.”By Lee

We hit the road from Taupo and endure a long six hour journey south to the tail-end of the north island.

As nation capitals go, Wellington is a shocking disappointment. Up there with the likes of Canberra (officially the most boring city on the planet), Wellington is devoid of character or anything pretty much anything that resembles popular interest.

A port city, we emerge from the bus next to our accommodation to blustery winds and docklands wet from recent rainfall. As we’re practically in the ferry car-park and it’s hardly picturesque, I decide to reserve final judgment on New Zealand’s capital until we’ve at least seen a little more of it.

Tags: Trip, Wellington

Day 30 -34 : Lake Taupo: “Oh, it’s ok. Payment on survival.”By Lee

We escape Rotorua and its watery clutches and partake of another Naked Bus journey south to Lake Taupo and the eponymously named town beside it.

Taupo is a breath of fresh air (both figuratively and literally speaking) compared to the rainy, foetid deadness of Rotorua. The lake is New Zealand’s largest, and during our week long stay more than one Kiwi tells us that it is exactly the same size of Singapore.

I absently wonder at what point in the near future as Singapore does what Lake Taupo can not (continue to expand) will the Tauopians cease telling visitors this particular nugget of trivia.

Tags: Lake Taupo, skidiving, Taupo Bungy

Day 27 – 29 : Rotorua: “I think someone is being murdered outside.”By Lee

Rotorua is a squat, nondescript town about a couple of hours south-east of Auckland. We take the Naked Bus (no nakedness detected) and are soon spat out in the rain at an i-Site office, i-Site being the ubiquitous tourist centres found all over New Zealand.

Our first reaction to the town (apart from where did all this rain come from) is the fetid eggy smell emanating from its streets. We quickly learn that it’s the local sulphur tracts that give the town its unique and famous stench. I’m instantly reminded of the sulphur trail we walked in Hawaii and the similar god-awful reek similar in odour to rotten eggs. Of course, no Hawaiian would be stupid enough to pitch a tent right next to such a malodorous phenomenon or even live downwind of what is truly a powerful stench.

Welcome to Rotorua – where sense is not necessarily something available in droves.

Tags: Rotorua, Trip, zorb